Today is a very fortunate day because today we can join a disappearance
festival of a Vaishnav. "Bhakta-sangete mana anandita anuksana
(ভক্ত-সঙ্গেতে মন আনন্দিত অনুক্ষণ)"—when we get the association of great
Vaishnavs, we always feel pleasure from that association, and through
association our hearts will be clean. That is why we arrange festivals—to get
the association of great Vaishnavs.

All Vaishnavs are actually associates of the Lord, they are media—they come
to spread Krishna's message to all of us. When we have some problem, we can
tell about it to a Vaishnav, and the Vaishnav tells about it to the Lord. The
Lord cannot always come Himself, but He always sends His associates to preach
Krishna consciousness all over the world, so if we get association of a
Vaishnav, we can get mercy of the Lord through them.

Krishna Himself says, "Those who say they are My devotees, are not My
devotees; but those who are devotees of My devotees, are My devotees." If you
invite Krishna, Krishna will not come, but if you invite Mother Yasoda,
Yasoda will bring Krishna to you—that is why we must please, we must make
devotees happy, that is why we must serve devotees.

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was in Puri, one householder devotee, Sivananda
Sen, asked Him, "Prabhu, we are householder devotees, what is our duty?"
Mahaprabhu replied, "Go to your home and serve Vaishnavs and engage in
Nama sankirtan." Vaishnav seva means following the order and advice
that a Vaishnav gives you. How can you do Vaishnav seva? How can you
please a Vaishnav? If you follow their order, you can please them. For
example, if you go to a big doctor, the doctor will give you a prescription,
but if you just keep that prescription aside and you do not follow it, if you
do not take the medicine, how will you then be cured? Your Guru gives you
some advice, and if you do not follow that advice (if you do not take his
medicine), how will you be cured?

"If you have any love and affection for Me, then only say 'Krishna'—do not
say anything except 'Krishna.'"

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, 28.27)

"If you have love and affection for Me, then say, 'Krishna,' speak about
Krishna, and engage others in service to Krishna." This is what all of our
Guru-varga (Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Maharaj, and others) preaches all over the world,

prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama

"This Name will be distributed all over the world—in all the villages,
towns, and cities that there are in this world."

They always fulfil Mahaprabhu's desire—they take His prescription and
distribute it all over the world. What is the main teaching that Mahaprabhu
Himself teaches us? Be humble, tolerant, and give honour to others.

"In the company of loving devotees, I behold all the places my Gaurasundar
roamed during His ecstatic Pastimes."

('Suddha-bhakata-charana-renu' by Srila Bhakti Vinod
Thakur)

Mahaprabhu visited many places, He visited all of South India also, and we
want to visit those places with devotees, that is why we have come here in
Guntur [Andhra Pradesh, South India].

Actually, we have come here to serve everybody—we have not come to take
service, we have come to serve everybody. Devotees always
engage everybody and everything in service. For example, a flower is used on
a birthday celebration, a wedding festival, or some marriage ceremony, but
when a devotee gives one flower to Lord Krishna, he gives benefit to the
flower tree. Krishna said that everything that exists in this world is for
His service, but we are enjoying with that—we must understand that we are not
enjoyers, Krishna is the only enjoyer. Because we have ego we suffer and
enjoy ourselves. For example, you live in a family—you can enjoy with family
life, but you must understand that this family is Krishna's family, then you
can enjoy with Krishna's family. Work for Krishna, serve Krishna, cook for
Krishna—whatever you do, you must do it for Krishna. If you want to eat
something, first offer it to the Lord, then take prasadam.

Disappearance of a Vaishnav means Vaishnav viraha (separation from a
Vaishnav). When Mahaprabhu was talking to Ramananda Ray, He asked him, "What
is our real, main sadness?" Ramananda Ray replied, "When our devotee leaves
some place, that is our greatest sadness."

Today is actually also a sad day because one sannyasi has left his
body on this day, but at the same time we do not think that he died, we do
not think that this is actually sad because we understand that Krishna sent
him here to serve, to preach Krishna consciousness in this area of the world,
and now his work has finished and Krishna has taken him again to His place.
That is why, we make disappearance festivals, that is why we do
Guru-puja and Vaishnav-puja (we worship the Guru and
Vaishnavs). This is an important day in our spiritual life. "Chhadiya
vaisnava-seva nistara payechhe keba (ছাড়িয়া বৈষ্ণব-সেবা নিস্তার পায়েছে
কেবা): Without service to the Vaishnav, you cannot get any relief." You must
always do Vaishnav seva—without service to the Vaishnavs we cannot
proceed in our spiritual life.

হরিস্থানে অপরাধে তারে হরিনাম ।
তোমাস্থানে অপরাধে নাহিক এড়ান ॥

hari-sthane aparadhe tare hari-nama
toma-sthane aparadhe nahika edana

"If you make an offence to the Lord, Vaishnavs can remove that offence, but
if you offend Vaishnavs, then not even Krishna can remove that offence." We
must be always careful.

Also, the scriptures say that when you bring a Deity, it is necessary to have
some installation, but for a Vaishnav and Tulasi Maharani no installation is
necessary—they are always automatically established, or installed. So, when
we see a Vaishnav (it does not matter whether it is a senior Vaishnav or a
junior Vaishnav), we must pay obeisance to them. When Prabhupad Srila Bhakti
Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur saw his disciple, even if it was a
seven-eight-year-old boy, he would pay obeisance to him and say, "Daso
'smi, I am your servant."

Who is a Vaishnav? Those who have chanted the Holy Name once are Vaishnavs
(kanistha-adhikari); those who always chant the Holy Name are
Vaishnavs (madhyam-adhikari); and if seeing somebody you take the Holy
Name, they are also Vaishnavs (uttam-adhikari, or senior great
Vaishnav). The Guru is an uttam Vaishnav (highest Vaishnav), but,
because the Guru has to make disciples, he has to come down to the level of a
madhyam-adhikari.

So, I am very happy today to get association of so many Vaishnavs and hear
the chanting of the Holy Name here—this is my pleasure, this is my
happiness.

'There are many festivals going on here. A few days ago there was Panihati
festival, after that, devotees went to Siliguri for the Deity installation
festival, and now the Ratha Yatra festival in Puri is coming.'

'I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, praising and meditating upon his glory at the three junctions of the day. By his grace, one gains the Lord's grace. Without his grace, one has no shelter anywhere.'